MoU between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited — an opportunity for India to master jet engine technologies

Matching the hype and expectations in the run up to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the United States, a joint statement from U.S. and India on June 22 announced that U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the landmark signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the manufacture of GE F-414 jet engines in India, for the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk 2...

While the most critical technology of the engine will be off limits, details on what all technologies and industrial processes will be transferred to India is still awaited..

Here in is an opportunity for India to master several related technologies with respect to jet engines and utilise that, in the medium term, to develop an engine entirely locally as certain technologies like the crystal blade technology will not be shared by anyone, no matter the price...

The F-414 engines are meant to power the indigenous LCA-MK2, a larger and more capable variant of the LCA currently in service, and also the initial version of the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) that is under development..

In this regard, the GE statement noted that it puts the company in a strong position to create a family of products in India, including the F404 engine that currently powers the LCA Mk1 and LCA Mk1A aircraft and GE Aerospaces selection for the prototype development, testing and certification of the AMCA program with the F414-INS6 engine..

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